Belin is accused to killing Leonard Noriega, 62, in December 1992. Noriega's body was found by his son, bound with an electrical cord and a white cloth, at his home on Skylark Street in north Baton Rouge. Investigators said Noriega had been bludgeoned to death with a blunt instrument.

Neighbors and other family members said it had been at least two weeks since Noriega had been seen. His home had been ransacked and the heating and air conditioning vents had been pulled out, Hicks said.

Hicks said fingerprint evidence from the crime scene linked investigators to Belin after the Unresolved Homicide Unit revived the 21-year-old case. Detectives were able to pinpoint Belin from the Automated Fingerprint Identification System database, Hicks said.

Detectives pulled Belin’s fingerprints from one of the central air vents, Hicks said, and the Unresolved Homicide Detective unit pulled old files in May 2012. The evidence for possible DNA extraction was sent to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab and the results tying Belin to the case was returned Feb. 1, Hicks said.

“If we can take a killer off the street, even 20 years later, and give closure to a family, we are going to do that,” said Sheriff Sid Gautreaux in a statement.